Canadian PM Harper visits the Knesset, hilarity ensues

Sometimes events are so amusing they overtake fiction, and so it went with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his visit to the Knesset.

As we noted on this very site a couple of years ago, Harper is the moral voice of the West when it comes to Israel. As a guest to the Jewish state this past week, Harper was honored with a visit to the Knesset where he gave a powerful speech in support of the country. During his speech, he spoke disparagingly of people who make the false apartheid accusation toward Israel. He was heckled and shouted down immediately and had to pause before continuing.

And who was it who heckled him? Two Arab Israeli Members of Knesset. One of them, Ahmad Tibi, had recently written about Israel’s laws as if they are “Jim Crow laws” and was now insistent on letting the Canadian PM and the rest of the world know that there was apartheid in Israel.

Get it? There is apartheid in Israel, therefore Arab Israelis are Knesset members. In South Africa, the black majority couldn’t even climb on to the same bus as the white minority, but in Israel the Arab minority, some of whose leaders have now taken to claiming they are victims of apartheid, share the Knesset with the majority Jews and speak out at will. In fact, Tibi is the Deputy Speaker of the Knesset.

As I said, you couldn’t make this stuff up, but the story actually gets better. Bibi Netanyahu had given a speech prior to Harper’s and Tibi heckled him as well. I’ll let the Times of Israel take it from here:

Tibi had earlier heckled Netanyahu, claiming that his colleague Abu Arar, a Bedouin MK from Ar’arat in the Negev, did not have water or electricity in his home, because of Israeli discrimination. “There’s no water or electricity in his village,” Tibi shouted at Netanyahu. “No water, no electricity. Give him water and electricity and he’ll stop shouting.” In fact, Channel 2 News showed on Tuesday, Abu Arar, a former school teacher and head of his local council, lives in a three-story home with water, electricity, air-conditioning and a satellite dish, and his street is well lit by street lamps. Tibi acknowledged this in the Knesset on Tuesday, but said he had been speaking more generally about alleged discrimination against Negev Bedouin.

Oh my goodness.

By the way, the other Arab Member of Knesset to heckle Harper about apartheid and walk out? That’s right, the guy who owns a house that is apparently bigger than mine, Taleb Abu Arar.

I think it would be cool to hang out with Ahmad Tibi. Lots of laughs. I’m sure he laughs his tuches off every day when he gets home and thinks about how he dissed the Jewish state again, the one that has made him a star.

That is what is so sad about the Arab MKs. They rather diss the state than promote their constituents. This lack of action for the clan is one of the reasons why the large Arab population does not send a full representation to the Knesset worthy of its numbers.